Ever since leaving the shelter of undergrad, the question of how and where to play viola has possessed me. In that end-year, certain realities about my education had become clear. I loved playing viola. I could play for hours and had no plan to put the instrument down. However, I found the viola repertoire isolating. Or perhaps it was orchestral excerpts. Or maybe it was classical music.
Something was not clicking. What was the point of playing the same repertoire as every other violist when A) audiences weren't vying to hear it, B) employment was limited to orchestral appointments, teaching, and special events, and C) even those audience were dwindling.
I thought I wanted to make music that was more relevant to my immediate peers. I wanted the viola to be "relevant" to modernity, part of the conversation of modern melody and sound creation.
So, in my search for America and greater creative liberty, I found improvisation! I got deeper into composition, theory, recording, performance art, and noise, incorporating distortion and looping pedals into my tool kit. I worked with dancers, DJs, and computer programs learning to make sound. After almost 10 years on the road less traveled, I now lead a Dixie Land Jazz band, feel comfortable improvising, and am self publishing new work.
I wonder if other violists grapple with these same issues. Our instrument is weirdly well positioned for innovation- our repertoire is small, the instrument's construction is perpetually in flux. We can pick up bass lines in a pinch, or borrow from the alto sax's glorious repertoire. The potential for innovation makes ours an instrument that might grow into the 21st century to embody something new, familiar, and current.
